Soprano Susanna Phillips continues to establish herself as one of today’s most sought-after musicians. Ms. Phillips’ 2023-24 Season includes engagements with Music of the Baroque, Musica Sacra, Oratorio Society of New York, Boston Baroque, and Houston Symphony.

Career highlights include The Metropolitan Opera singing numerous roles with her recent debut at Mimì/La bohème. Ms. Phillips’ is also praised for her portrayal of Musetta/ La bohème, Pamina/The Magic Flute, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni, Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus, Antonia and Stella/The Tales of Hoffmann, Micaëla/Carmen, and Countess Almaviva/Le nozze di Figaro – a role very close to her heart. Ms. Phillips received great applause for singing Fiordigili/Così fan tutte, which The New York Times called a “breakthrough night”, and Clémence in The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin. Ms. Phillips has sung two premieres, Rose/Awakenings at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Brahms’ A German Requiem with the Oratorio Society at Carnegie Hall. Previously, she has performed the role of Stella in a concert staging of Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Renée Fleming and also has sung Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Teddy Abrams. Ms. Phillips has also sung leading roles with Boston Baroque including Cleopatra/Giulio Cesare and the title role in Agrippina. Other opera house appearances include Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cincinnati Opera, Dallas Opera, Minnesota Opera, Fort Worth Opera Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Gran Teatro del Liceu, and Oper Frankfurt.

Dedicated to symphonic works, Ms. Phillips has collaborated with highly esteemed orchestras including The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and her native Huntsville Symphony. Some credits include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Second and Fourth Symphonies, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Fauré and Mozart Requiem, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. An avid chamber music collaborator, Ms. Phillips has performed a tribute concert to Clara Schumann at the Library of Congress and has sung alongside Eric Owens for Washington Performing Arts in a program co-curated by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Prestigious awards include some of the world’s leading vocal competitions: The Metropolitan’s Beverly Sills Artist Award (2010), Operalia (first place and the audience prize), The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the MacAllister Awards, and the George London Foundation Awards Competition. She has also claimed the top honor at the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition and has won first prizes from the American Opera Society Competition and the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago. Ms. Phillips has received grants from the Santa Fe Opera and the Sullivan Foundation and is a graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. She holds both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School.

A native of Huntsville, Alabama, more than 400 people traveled from Ms. Phillips’ hometown to New York City in December 2008 for her Met Opera debut in La bohème. She returns frequently to her native state for recitals and orchestral appearances.

Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott is a consummate artist who balances a versatile career as a soloist and collaborator. She performs over 100 concerts a year in a combination of solo recitals, concerti and chamber music. Her repertoire choices are eclectic, spanning from Bach and Haydn to Prokofiev and Scriabin to Kernis, Hartke, Tower and Wuorinen.

With over 50 concerti in her repertoire, Ms. McDermott has performed with many leading orchestra including the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Seattle Symphony, National Symphony, Houston Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi,  Hong Kong Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, New Jersey Symphony and Baltimore Symphony among others. Ms, McDermott has toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow Virtuosi.

In the recent seasons, Ms. McDermott performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Huntsville Symphony, Alabama Symphony, San Diego Symphony, the Oregon Mozart Players, and  the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

Recital engagements have included the 92nd Street Y, Alice Tully Hall, Town Hall,  The Schubert Club, Kennedy Center, as well as universities across the country. Anne-Marie McDermott has curated and performed in a number of intense projects including: the Complete Prokofiev Piano Sonatas and Chamber Music, a Three Concert Series of Shostakovich Chamber Music, as well as a recital series of Haydn and Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Most recently, she commissioned works of Charles Wuorinen and Clarice Assad  which were premiered in May 2009 at Town Hall, in conjunction with Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

As a soloist, Ms. McDermott has recorded the complete Prokofiev Piano Sonatas, Bach English Suites and Partitas (which was named Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice), and most recently, Gershwin Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra with the Dallas Symphony and Justin Brown.

In addition to her many achievements, Anne-Marie McDermott has been named the Artistic Director of the famed Bravo! Vail Music Festival in Colorado, which hosts the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony  in addition to presenting over 40 chamber music concerts throughout the summer.  She is also Artistic Director of Santa Fe Pro Musica, The Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival, McKnight Chamber Music Festival, and The Avila Chamber Music Celebration in Curacao.

As a chamber music performer, Anne-Marie McDermott was named an artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 1995 and performs and tours extensively with CMS each season. She continues a long standing collaboration with the highly acclaimed violinist, Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg.  As a duo, they have released a CD titled “Live” on the NSS label and plan to release the Complete Brahms Violin and Piano Sonatas in the future. Ms. McDermott is also a member of the renowned piano quartet, Opus One, with colleagues Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom and Peter Wiley.

She continues to perform each season with her sisters, Maureen McDermott and Kerry McDermott in the McDermott Trio. Ms, McDermott  has also released an all Schumann  CD with violist, Paul Neubauer, as well as the Complete Chamber Music of Debussy with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Ms. McDermott studied at the Manhattan School of Music with Dalmo Carra, Constance Keene and John Browning. She was a winner of the Young Concert Artists auditions and was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Ms. McDermott regularly performs at Festivals across the United States including, Spoleto, Mainly Mozart, Sante Fe, La Jolla Summerfest, Mostly Mozart, Newport, Caramoor, Bravo, Chamber Music Northwest, Aspen, Music from Angelfire, and the Festival Casals in Puerto Rico, among others.